In his most recent drawings, ink paintings, performances, and films, Francisco Montoya Cázarez (*1985 in Cuernavaca, Mexico) addressed the social situation in his home country of Mexico. A selection of his works will be presented at the Remise of the Kunstverein Braunschweig.

At first glance, Montoya’s works come across as folkloristic clichés that seem to reflect the typical European perception of Mexico. Upon closer inspection, however, one can read an intense examination of the country’s reality. The world of animals in his drawings and ink paintings is not derived from a rural idyll, but makes reference to code names for various drugs and weapons. Montoya has them become compositional elements of his drug war scenarios, which are occasionally reminiscent of Goya’s Desastres de la Guerra.

Billy goats, parrots, and roosters also populate, so to speak, music genres such as corrido. What has evolved from the traditional ballad is the subgenre of narcocorrido, whose covert contents, which glorify violence and drugs, are communicated to a broad public. In his performances and films, Montoya ties in with this ambivalent role of Mexican music and converts its traditional festiveness into a symbol for crime and hopelessness. In the film Das Bundesständchen (2010), he sings a serenata for the chancellor. While the evening love song is basically meant to depict the wooing of a woman, here it tells, not without a touch of humor, of the conflict of the Mexican people between pride and suffering. This national conflict also pervades Montoya’s installation The Monument to the Revolution (2011). Originally planned to be the seat of government, due to the long insurgent fighting the building remained unfinished and today serves as a monument to the revolution. As a rough wooden replica, in the exhibition it becomes a chicken coop that completely lacks the character of a proud national symbol and instead becomes a symbol for national frustration.

A piñata has been placed on the upper floor of the Remise as a symbol of Mexican festivity. The colorful animals containing sweets are traditionally smashed open at Christmas in order to ward off evil. Montoya’s piñata has already been burst and occupies the entire space in the shape of a rooster.

With Francisco Montoya Cázarez, the Kunstverein Braunschweig is again affording a graduate of the Braunschweig University of Art an opportunity for a first solo exhibition. Montoya completed his study of fine art in 2010 and is a master student in the class of Candice Breitz. A bilingual catalogue (German/English), produced in collaboration with the Credit Suisse, is being published in conjunction with the exhibition.

The exhibition is been sponsored by Stiftung Braunschweigischer Kulturbesitz and Land Niedersachsen.

Download floor plan (german)